]]>Collaboration tools are so pervasive in the workplace that it’s no longer a question of if companies will enable web working, but how. Jacob Morgan, a principal with the Chess Media Group, wrote the book The Collaborative Organization, which he hopes will be a guide for corporations looking to utilize a mix of internal messaging, email, wikis and other communication tools in their enterprise. Morgan talked with us about what the evolution of collaboration platforms, what collaboration resources young workers entering companies will expect, and how to get people to actually use the tools provided.

Deskmag talked to 1,500 people in 52 countries to reach its conclusion, working with a web of partner organizations. The verdict was great news for coworking when it comes to the individual benefits of participating:

93 percent said their social circle had increased a lot as a result of joining a coworking space

86 percent said their business network had grown

76 percent reported an increase in productivity

88 percent said their isolation had decreased

Respondents were nearly universally enthusiastic (96 percent) about the sense of community at their spaces, with 54 percent trusting fellow members enough to always leave a laptop unattended and 29 percent happy to leave one for a few hours.

While coworking is clearly well-loved by space members, the news was more mixed for space owners, with only 40 percent of coworking spaces reporting making a profit this year. This confirms concerns about finding a profitable model for spaces without sacrificing the ambiance and community that members value so highly, which we have heard previously from owners and managers.

More detailed results from the survey are due out soon.

Do you think much of the coworking movement is built on a shaky business model?

Dozens of new products and applications launch every day to help with different aspects of social networking, information management, and remote collaboration. We test and bookmark those that seem interesting, but quickly forget why we tried them or even where to find them again. They simply don’t alleviate a problem important enough to keep them on the radar very long.

Some of the “solutions” available offer quick fixes to problems we didn’t even know we had, which got me thinking. What do we really need as web workers these days, and is anyone working to find solutions to those problems?

Technology is changing by the minute, and we expect the tools we use to change and evolve as well, but at the end of all the experimentation with promising new gadgets and gizmos, we still have certain core functions to do each day. What we really need is a single tool to help ease the increasing challenge of managing those tasks, while still keeping us up to speed with the changes in technology.

#1 Need: A Centralized Dashboard

If you’re like me, you jump from one application to the next consuming, creating, and managing every type of media imaginable.

Whether completing work-related projects or simply networking online, it’s often necessary to log into multiple applications. Even the simplest of tasks have become multi-part processes. Simon wrote about this issue in a GigaOM Pro article, Enterprise 2.0: Web Apps and the Patchwork Quilt Problem (sub. req.).

#2 Need: Aggregated Contacts and Information

“I remember talking with Lynne about that company. She sent me the link to their website, but I’ll have to look it up. I can’t remember if she sent it to me by email or if she posted it somewhere else online.”

How many times do we have these conversations with ourselves? Information is shared just as often via Twitter and Facebook as it is by email, and with varying layers of security and the sheer volume of information being generated at any given point, it’s getting harder to reference a given conversation at a later point.

We need a way to not only archive, but also sync and update information across multiple platforms so that we always have the most current version available to us wherever we are and whatever hardware or software we’re using.

#3 Need: Seamless Hardware Transitions

Just as with disconnected software, hardware that doesn’t seamlessly share and sync information and applications makes it hard to transition from one to another. Although options are available (and they vary depending on the phone, computer, operating system, etc.), they’re not always painless, and if you ever switch to new equipment, you’re often forced to switch syncing options as well.

#4 Need: Security

Last, we need better ways to keep information secure and private. After several experiences with bank and network security breaches, I find myself backing out of applications that require me to share information between applications and sites. It’s just not worth the risk. Although I want to find ways to simplify the way I work online, I know that with every application I use and every piece of information I sync, I’m risking the security of contact data, usernames and passwords.

I’m not sure this was our intention, but we’ve become dispersed as a workforce and created ways to better connect and bridge great distances through the use of social networking, video conferencing, and online collaboration, only to find the information and tools we use to manage all that online interaction disconnected and even counter-productive.

What capabilities do you think are missing from today’s collaboration tools?

]]>Last weekend, I disconnected from the web completely. I wasn’t on holiday or caught up in an all-consuming weekend adventure, it was just that over the last few months I’d been working weekends as well as full-time during the week, and I’d decided to carve out a little time off.

Unlike a holiday, though, I still needed to go about my ordinary activities. This experience revealed to me how much I’ve come to rely on the web, and highlighted some unexpected ways it’s changing my lifestyle.

Information

When I woke up Saturday morning, I wondered what the weather would be like. Along with things like local farmers’ market locations and times, film screenings and daily news, the weather is something that I tend to check frequently online.

But since I wasn’t connected, I realized I’d just have to wait and see. If I wanted to hear the news, I’d have to plan my information consumption around the television or radio schedules. Or (gasp!) buy a newspaper from the nearest shop, six kilometers away.

Yes, the web gives us access to information on demand, but over the weekend, I realized I’ve come to expect this as a given. Losing that access made me seek alternatives where I could, but mostly, I simply went without the information.

In some cases, this actually curtailed my activity: If you can’t remember — or find out — when the local farmers’ market’s on, you’ll probably forget about it, rather than driving an hour or more to discover it’s not actually on this weekend.

Ultimately, not having access to information forced me to take chances, or to forgo activities.

Self-focus

A lot has been written about the self-obsessive tendencies of those who spend time preening online personas rather than interacting with the real world. For me, without external information and entertainment (for which you could read ‘distraction’), the focus seemed to narrow considerably. It narrowed to whatever I was doing at that exact moment.

By losing touch with the world outside, I was able to hone in on the present, and on myself. Instead of reacting to external information obtained online, my own motivations became clearer. They became the driver for my day.

A very simple example: Since I didn’t know what the weather was going to be like, I planned my weekend solely on the basis of what I wanted to do at any given time. This self-focus and self-motivation extended into other areas as well, and it was different from the norm.

I wondered if that feeling of ordinarily being motivated or driven by what I find online applied to other web workers. I wondered if it may contribute to the sense many web workers experience of being at the mercy of technology and information.

Without the web, I had much less outside impetus to do things; everything depended on my mood and internal motivation.

Contact

As you’d expect, lacking access to email and IM meant that all my contact had to be personal. Unless I could fit my communication into a text message, I’d have to call — or visit — someone to communicate with them. Of course, I always use the web to look up phone numbers I don’t know, so it was just as well I didn’t need to contact anyone whose number I hadn’t already saved to my phone.

As someone who values space, the idea of having to call four different people to try to organize a festive season gathering really didn’t appeal, so I put it off until I was back at my computer during the week. As it turns out, I’d rather delay contact than be forced to talk (as I saw it, endlessly) on the phone.

Of course, I received contacts from friends and colleagues online over the weekend, and missed them all. Miscommunication and general confusion ensued — proof that the web worker’s horror of disconnection is probably justified. After all, this was just one weekend.

The instant, always-on nature of the web has made timeliness a priority, and an expectation: People expect to be able to get in touch with us at the last minute. I expect to be able to do the same.

Being disconnected restricted my contact to the immediate — phone or face-to-face communications — and reduced the amount of flexibility I felt I had.

Preoccupation

As my disconnected weekend progressed, I found myself less and less preoccupied with anything — any event, person, or piece of information — that wasn’t within my immediate physical realm.

In short, if it wasn’t hitting me in the face, it didn’t matter.

Without my calendar, I had no idea which social engagements I was supposed to be anticipating. Without email I had no expectation that anyone would contact me without my knowledge. I had nothing to check, nothing to confirm, nothing to concern myself with.

This was a relief. Naturally, being less preoccupied with an external world allowed me to focus more closely on what I was actually doing. Without the thought that I should check my mail, or the inclination to look at the news as I passed my desk, I was free to put my whole mind to the tasks at hand. This was a great thing, even if I had no idea what was happening in the news.

Occasionally I wondered what might be happening elsewhere in the world — including online — but I did enjoy having a clear focus on the here and now.

Planning

Ultimately, being disconnected highlighted how easy the web makes coordinating events with other people, and obtaining information that helps us stay organized.

I realized that to plan a family lunch without the web, I’d have to call a bunch of people, which made it seem like an awful lot of effort. Sending an email to five people takes maybe ten minutes. Calling those same five people would take at least fifteen minutes apiece. Planning social events is much more time-consuming without the web.

Almost all the other tasks for which I’d have used the web that weekend were to search for information that is available in newspapers, on town calendars, and so on. If I had to live without the web, I’d still be able to access the information I need, but it would need to be a much more planned, less spontaneous proposition.

The web reduces our need to plan ahead, and to anticipate potential needs for information.

feels a sense of missing out, preoccupation, or an ongoing curiosity about the online world as a result of these three factors

This description does seem to define, in some part, many of the web workers I know. While I’m not saying this is all we are — not by a long shot — I do think that some time spent completely disconnected from the web probably isn’t a bad idea. I think the aspect that surprised me most was the fresh sense of motivation I felt; I enjoyed relying on my internal motivations for once, rather than seeking information to inspire me to take action.

Do you disconnect completely from the web? Have you found that it changes your expectations or behavior?

]]>Today, I’m working in my PJs. I’ll admit it. Normally, getting dressed makes me feel more “put together” and less distracted, so it’s something I aspire to on most days, but today’s not one of those days, and I’m OK with it. Here’s why, along with a few more advantages of being a web worker.

The Flexibility to Be Spontaneous

Most days I try not to work in my pajamas, not only because I feel more put together, but also because part of the appeal of working for myself is flexibility, and for me, flexibility means being able to take advantage of opportunities I wouldn’t otherwise have.

At short notice, I like to be able to take advantage of things like joining my sister and nephew for an impromptu visit to the park or going out to a late lunch or early dinner with a friend or family member when they call me up out of the blue. If I’m in my pajamas, I’m not ready to walk out the door at a moment’s notice!

I’m able to do this since, most of the time, I try not to lock myself into overly structured days with tons of appointments in a single day. That way, I can say to friends or family, “Well, I have a call at 3 PM, but I could meet you for coffee after that.” Generally, the rest of my work can be moved around, and although I try to stick fairly closely to a regular schedule for most of my work, I try not to have strict deadlines.

The Flexibility for Give and Take

Not having strict deadlines (and sometimes being willing to work in my pajamas) also allows me to work in a more “give and take” way, with more of an ebb and flow. Today, for instance, I have several phone appointments, writing to do, and a long list of other tasks to complete, so it’s one of those days I’ll buckle down and work in a concentrated way.

Working this way lets me take advantage of days when I have more energy and focus around my projects so that on less-than-productive days, I can give myself a break. If I’m not feeling well or if I’m feeling tired or distracted, I can afford some time away from work to renew my energy and focus.

Yesterday, for instance, I was feeling preoccupied by potentially having to move, and I simply wasn’t able to concentrate on work-related projects. By giving myself some space to figure out a few options for that part of my life, today I came back full force and ready to work. With the give and take that comes with being a web worker, I’m able to maintain some level of balance in life as a whole.

The Flexibility to Live Life

As part of the give and take, there’s also the ability to rearrange things to make more room for living. The holidays are coming up, for instance, and I have a lot of cooking, visiting and traveling planned. I don’t want to feel distracted from all of the festivities because of a business- or work-related project or deadline, so I intentionally work to get more done in the month or so before the holidays so that I can enjoy some time with family and friends in November and December.

This flexibility comes in handy when there are birthday parties, illnesses, summer breaks, emergencies, and a slew of other (anticipated and unanticipated) events that occur throughout the year. I can work when I can work, take off when I need to take off, and somehow, it all works out so that I can have a business and still have a life outside of it.

At the end of the day, being a web worker allows me to do work I enjoy, while aiming for the overall picture to be good, even great most of the time, if not always (or even nearly) perfect. I can be flexible and accommodating to my life, my business, and even my own needs most of the time, like days when I work in my pajamas and (thankfully) meet with business contacts via Skype!

How does being a web worker add flexibility to your life and business?

]]>The return of daylight savings time often brings with it a flurry of complaints about losing something web workers treasure most: time. Here are twelve ways to claw some if it back:

Control your phone time. Web workers tend to have an”open door” phone policy. For example, when a relative calls, my husband takes the call only to fall into the trap of the person going on and on. I suggested he find a nice way to end the call. Some fear sounding rude in cutting a call short, but you can do it politely. Pick a couple of friendly phrases to use to end a call when it has served its purpose. Try: “I hate to cut this short, but I need to prepare for a meeting. It was great catching up with you.”

Change direction when procrastinating or distracted. We all have moments when we can’t complete tasks because we just can’t get into it. The reason could be tiredness, distractions or something else. Rather than dwell on the task, go do something else. Here are tips for fending off procrastination.

Review your meetings. Have you been attending the same weekly meetings for months or even years? Are these meetings really needed? Regularly scheduled meetings can lose value. Ask for an agenda when people request your attendance. This gently reminds them to create an agenda, if they don’t have one. If they still don’t provide one, explain that you need to prepare yourself for the meeting and an agenda helps. Check out Imran’s tips on running effective meetings.

Hold conversations at a better time. Having a conversations that’s going in a circle with no new information? That’s the time to put the brakes on the conversation and follow up later.

Save time in your calendar. If you need to work on a project uninterrupted, put it in your calendar. This way you can easily say, “I’ve already got something scheduled at that time.” It makes it easier to say no. If you need to spend time with the family, add that, too.

End commitments. I used to join Twitter chats three nights a week on a regular basis, but stopped when my eyes ached. I also switched from being a regular player in time-consuming tennis matches away from home to substituting. Maybe it’s time to step down from a nonprofit board position, or to ditch some bad clients.

Be mindful about television time. Like surfing the Internet, it’s easy to waste away time flipping through channels during work breaks and after-hours. For years, I’ve recorded select TV programs and watched them at a convenient time such as while folding laundry, exercising and on a lunch break. Also, when a show bores me for too many episodes, I quit watching it.

Carry a book with you. I always have a book in my car or bag to prepare for unexpected idle time. Having a book with me at all times ensures I don’t waste free time by grabbing some reading time.

Manage in-person interruptions. This might not be so much or a problem for some web workers. However, those working in coworking centers, and those working from offices in family homes, might find their time invaded by people desiring a friendly chat. Have some phrases ready to rescue you from unexpected visitors. Try: “I hate to cut our visit short, but I am about to enter an online webinar. Thanks for stopping by.” Home office workers’ interruptions might include significant others, children and others living in their home. Check out my tips for meeting deadlines while keeping your kids happy.

]]>It’s Friday afternoon. You clean up and get ready for respite. Surprise, surprise … within an hour of checking out for the weekend, a phone call comes in. What do you do? Ignore the call? Pick it up? As a web worker who can work anywhere, any time, is it possible to mark the end of the day?

The best time to deal with this situation is at the start of a relationship. “I treat my consultant/contractor work like a regular job, and set expectations when I first speak with a prospective client. I explain what my work hours are and that I’m not available in the evenings or weekends,” says Deborah Edwards-Onoro.

Like most web workers, you may be flexible and accept occasional out-of-hours work. Still, it could snowball into a regular thing. “Frankly, if you don’t set the parameters ahead of time, you’re setting yourself up for expectations that aren’t going to be acceptable,” says Michele Wilcox.

What if you have multiple clients and they all decide to call on you at the same time, or you bite off more than you can chew? Draw a line under your time by being proactive with these tips.

Discuss work hours at the start of a relationship. Specify your hours of availability and your flexibility. Set guidelines for special projects and emergencies that require out-of-hours work. These guidelines could include number of days or hours of advance notice for after hours work, list higher rates and how to handle emergencies. Get all of this down in a simple contract template that you can re-use.

Keep separate phone lines. Web workers should have separate phone numbers for home and business. It’s not professional to use one line for both, especially as there are plenty of telephony options available that can make it possible without a big expense.

Find a voicemail tool with features you need. Some voicemail providers offer features that give you more control over how the service handles your calls.

Let calls go to voicemail. Your client may be calling to share a thought without expecting you to answer. Let voicemail take the message and then check to see what the client has to say. Answering every time gives the impression you’re “always on.”

Turn off the phone. The phone should be there for your convenience. Despite this, some people struggle to ignore a ringing phone.

Set email guidelines. Tell your clients when they can expect an email response. You can set a rule that you reply within two hours during working hours and then a different rule for after hours and weekends.

Post your business hours. List your hours on your web site and in your voice mail, or indicate the best time to reach you. Prospective clients will respect your hours if they see your schedule before hiring you.

Turn off instant messaging, Facebook chat and similar tools. If clients contact you by instant messaging (IM) or on other platforms such as Skype, remember to switch your status to “away” as needed — or turn off the service.

Be proactive and present. Some clients don’t think to ask if you’re available for after-hours work. Rather than waiting for it to happen, tell the client that you’re flexible and would appreciate advance notice if something comes up. “If a client feels taken care of, he or she may hesitate before picking up the phone on weekends or after hours,” says Michelle I. Zavala.

Some people believe “always on” is the way to stay ahead of competitors, but it can harm your health and work quality. “How can you give your best to a client if they’re calling you, say, in the middle of the night and you’re asleep?” asks Teresa Nolan Barensfeld. “Another point is that your clients won’t see you as a professional if you don’t set any boundaries about your availability.”

Some freelancers say they compromise with after-hours work by taking time off during the day. You may run into clients who need 24/7 support. Steer away from such a set-up by asking questions and understanding their expectations. “Not everyone needs to set these boundaries for themselves and not every business model allows them. However, I have found that I am far more productive if I have a clear distinction between my office hours and the time I spend with my family,” says Laura Sultan.

]]>I’ve already expressed my opinion on what would make the Apple tablet a significant part of my day-to-day web working habits, but Amazon seems keen on positioning itself in or around the same space in the market, so it’s only fair I turn my attention to the Kindle, too. The recently announced apps for Kindle could potentially open up the platform to more than just reading.

As of now, the Kindle — although I find it professionally beneficial in the sense that I find myself reading more — doesn’t have a direct and measurable impact on my work life. I can think of a few ways apps could change that situation and make the Kindle a valuable tool in my web working toolbox. After all, the Kindle has always-on 3G connectivity and extremely good battery life, both very desirable things in a mobile platform.

A Twitter App

It’s an obvious pick. Basically any device that can have Twitter on it almost inevitably will have Twitter on it, eventually. But Twitter on a Kindle would be a good fit because it requires very little in the way of resources and processor power. It’s basically text, and if there’s one thing the Kindle does well, it’s text.

Sure, there are lots of images, videos and web links on Twitter, too, and some might feel that that was the most important aspect of the service. For my purposes on the road, though, I’m less concerned with deep engagement and more concerned with basic access. As long as I can read my stream, and, more importantly, post updates from my Kindle, I’ll be more than satisfied.

A Gmail App

Another mostly text web-based tech that would work on a Kindle is Gmail. The ability to browse your text-only email with a simple, light interface via the Kindle would actually be preferable to reading it on a computer, in my opinion, since it would make it that much easier to actually concentrate on the content of your messages.

It shouldn’t be that hard to include a simple composition component, too, since the Kindle has a full keyboard. The key to making this app really useful will be keeping it simple, so let’s hope all parties involved keep that in mind. For instance, just because the Kindle can now read PDFs natively, doesn’t mean a Gmail app needs to be able to display PDF attachments. Basic email is all I’m looking for.

A Word Processing App

I want to use my iPhone to write things on the road from time to time. I don’t want to have to get my laptop out just to jot down a basic idea, but I can’t, in all honesty, use the iPhone’s virtual keyboard for anything longer than a text message or a very brief email or tweet. It’s functional, but nothing more.

Despite the small size of the keys, I definitely prefer the hardware keyboard the Kindle makes use of. I use it all the time to make notes in the books I’m reading (a favorite Kindle feature of mine), and after an initial adjustment period, I now find it quite comfortable. A basic app that allows me to create even basic text files that I can then transfer to my PC for further editing and use in other documents is exactly what I need from a Kindle word processing app.

A To-do App

I know the iPhone (and other smartphones) sort of has this covered, but since my to-do needs are very basic, I think I’d actually prefer to do this sort of thing on the Kindle with its basic, paper-like e-ink display. It might not be as easy to navigate without a touchscreen display, but I might actually be more inclined to use something attached to my reading platform than to my phone.

No iPhone, But Not Without Merit

The Kindle isn’t an iPhone; it’s designed to be a single-purpose device. I don’t think Amazon ever foresaw a future in which it would begin offering apps for the platform when it conceived of the Kindle, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be useful. As a mobile device, the Kindle has a lot of advantages over media players and other platforms, and with the right kind of effort in the right directions by developers, it could be a very handy little web working tool.

]]>The beginning of a new decade is a great time for retrospectives and looking back at what brought us to where we are now, but it’s also a good time to pause and reflect about where the next ten years might take us. Specifically, how might we expect the next decade to affect web working practices, and change the lives of those of us who make our living online?

If the advances of the past couple of decades have told us anything, it’s that we probably can’t accurately predict the future, especially when it comes to technology. But that doesn’t mean we can’t prognosticate about general trends that might help us prepare for what’s to come.

Google Wave, but Better

Some would argue that Google Wave was the biggest online tech disappointment of the last year. It received a fair amount of hype prior to its launch, and at first just getting into the initial beta made people feel a sense of privilege and entitlement. That sense of entitlement quickly turned sour, at least in my experience and the experience of the vast majority I’ve talked to about Wave.

Google Wave itself may be a disappointment, but that doesn’t mean the hearts and minds of the team behind it weren’t in the right place. Thinking about the next step beyond email is a natural enough progression, and it’s likely that that next step will be more interactive, both between people and across media, which Google Wave most definitely is. People who think Internet communication reached its zenith with email are the same type of person who preferred the fax machine and the telegraph to their successors.

I imagine the future of the web to be built around context-based nodal communication, sort of like what’s starting to happen with Twitter and Facebook integration in blog commenting systems. I’ve no idea what the final shape of this kind of communication will look like, but it should benefit working only by emphasizing relevance and relationships over other concerns, like etiquette and immediacy.

Distributed Becomes De Facto

It’s already starting among call centers and other similar businesses operating in North America, at least, and pretty soon other employers will catch on to the fact that running a distributed operation instead of maintaining a physical office saves time and money.

That means we’ll see a lot more remote workers in the near future, culminating in a workplace that is completely home and coworking space-based by the end of the decade. It may seem hard to believe at this point, but think about how far we’ve come in this regard to date, and what people would’ve thought about it ten or twenty years ago.

Death of the Desktop

Well, not the surface itself, but the desktop computer, for all but extremely specialized usages. I realize the irony of predicting this while typing on my iMac, which I absolutely love and much prefer to my notebook computers. The fact is, though, that external monitors can now pretty much replicate all the convenience features that result in my iMac preference. I would much rather spend as much money as I can on one computer and have it suit all my needs, than spread it around to multiple, less ideal machines.

If anything, people will move more and more towards a notebook/netbook or notebook/tablet working configuration. The slate is the hottest new form factor in computing today, and though we haven’t yet had a chance to see how consumers will respond to the new, super portable touch-screen devices, I predict they will catch on quite quickly.

Greater portability will mean that business and public spaces will cater more to mobile workers, and we should be able to find a place fairly easily to plug in and reap the advantages of being able to work from wherever we are without diminished capacity. Picture a Starbucks with secondary monitors built-in to the walls and surfaces.

No Flying Cars

These predictions may seem bold, but I’m not suggesting we’ll be zipping around on sky highways here. There’s already precedents for each of the things mentioned above, and all I’m really doing is following the current trajectory of a few trends to their natural endpoint.